DISCOMs threatening to disconnect services if consumers resist installation of smart meters: CPI(M)

CPI(M) State secretariat member Ch. Babu Rao on Wednesday (December 17) said DISCOMs were serving notices on consumers, insisting that they have smart meters installed or face disconnection of services. At a press meet, which he addressed along with party leader Donepudi Kasinath, he displayed one such notice served on a consumer in Vijayawada by the CPDCL.

Mr. Babu Rao recalled that the government had previously assured the consumers that it would not forcefully install smart meters, but it clearly did an about-turn, going by the notices given recently. He said that in the specified notice, the DISCOM sought valid reasons for not letting the IRDA devices replaced by smart meters, thereby putting pressure on the consumer.

It was evident from these tactics that the government was bent on installing the smart meters provided by Adani Energy Solutions Limited, to the detriment of about two crore consumers. The installation of smart meters entailed a burden of ₹25,000 crore on the public exchequer at a time when the State was purportedly struggling with a shoestring budget, he observed.

Mr. Babu Rao said leaders of the TDP, the Jana Sena Party and the BJP had opposed the smart meters before the elections but were now maintaining a stoic silence even as DISCOMs were creating illusions about the smart meters and mounting pressure on people to allow the installation of the devices. The DISCOMs were also in the process of imposing true-up charges amounting to over ₹12,000 crore.

​The Union and the State governments conspired to hand over the entire electricity distribution system to private companies, of which the installation of smart meters was a significant move, Mr. Babu Rao said, adding that the Left parties would organise Statewide protests if the government did not stop the installations forthwith.